Merkel did not push Greece referendum idea - witness

May 19, 2012|Reuters

By Erik Kirschbaum

BERLIN, May 19 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkelasked Greek President Karolos Papoulias what he thought of theidea of holding a referendum on Greek membership in the euro butdid not push it, a journalist who said he overheard theirconversation wrote on Saturday.

A Greek government spokesman said Merkel raised the idea ina telephone call on Friday but Berlin swiftly denied that.

The incident reignited anti-Merkel sentiment in debt-ladenGreece where many accuse the German leader of exacerbating thecrisis by being slow to act and then demanding austeritymeasures that are too tough.

A Merkel spokeswoman said on Saturday there was "no truth toreports" the German leader urged Greece to hold a referendum butdeclined to give details of what had been discussed.

Paul Ronzheimer, a reporter with Germany's Bild newspaper,wrote on Saturday that he was in the same room as Papoulias inAthens just as he took the call from Merkel.

Ronzheimer said he heard Papoulias speaking fluent German toMerkel as they discussed the idea. He did not specify if he hadoverheard Merkel's side of the conversation as well.

"She wanted to talk to him about a possible referendum onthe euro - the idea came up a few days ago from a meeting ofEuropean Union finance ministers," wrote Ronzheimer, who wasaccompanying European Parliament President Martin Schulz to themeeting with Papoulias, in a report published on Saturday.

German officials have said Merkel conveyed her hope for afunctioning government in Greece after repeat elections on June17. Germany is the largest single contributor to the Greekrescue efforts.

Greek government spokesman Dimitris Tsiodras said after thecall that Merkel had specifically raised the idea of Greeceholding a referendum on its euro zone membership next month.

"(Merkel) relayed to the president thoughts about holding areferendum in parallel with the elections on the questionwhether Greek citizens wish to remain in the euro zone," hesaid.

That has triggered fresh Greek criticism of Merkel who hadalready been caricatured in some Greek media wearing Naziuniform. The latest controversy was splashed across the frontpages of Greek newspapers.

But Greece's interim prime minister, Panagiotis Pikrammenos,tried to defuse the controversy on Saturday and said heconsidered the matter closed. "The issue was exhaustedyesterday," Pikrammenos told reporters.